Den of Shadows: Reckoning
by Frozen Phoenix
Summary: In the Cafe Sangra, a would-be hunter on a mission meets a Triste who's trying to fulfill his. One similarity links them: the loss of a sister.


**Notes: **This story takes some time after Shattered Mirror and contains slight references to both _In the Forests of the Night_ and _Midnight Predator_. Enjoy. 

**Disclaimer: **"In the Forests of the Night" and its respective characters are the property of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

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Reckoning 

By Frozen Phoenix 

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The night, as they say, was young. Early enough for the sinful ones to satiate their dark cravings and for the innocent to dwell amid lost sunlight. It was the twilight, yet within the Café Sangra, it was meaningless. 

It was a standard setting for a place of its nature. But deceiving exterior gave way to the deadly interior, where drinks and bar brawls could become the least of a person's worries. 

The club was filled, with bodies milling about, talking, sitting and drinking. Nothing too out of the ordinary to the eyes of one who was not trained to see the danger. For those that were, the Café Sangra was a viper's nest. One filled with cunning predators who waited for the unwitting prey to stumble into their company. 

Sitting at the edge of the bar, one young man could barely keep his disgust hidden. Unlike most, he knew of the peril that moved around him. Also unlike most, he had methods of protection against it. 

He was Alexander, once Alexander Weatere, now known by only his first name to those who hunted either beside him or against him. His fair, golden hair and nearly amber eyes stuck out among the black hair and eyes common to many of the creatures within the Café, yet no one paid him any mind. He had been there before on many occasions and no one, save for Aubrey himself had either the power or nerve to throw him out.

Alexander sighed in frustration and took a long drink from the cup that had sat before him. He hated being there, seeing the demons that had claimed his sister drinking and exchanging pleasantries or curses. He wasn't hateful by nature, it was simply the nature of the building and those who resided within that was getting to him. 

He would have preferred residing in any other location. But Alexander knew the heads of the Triste line well, in there eyes, there was no more suitable punishment. He had found and entered New Mayhem, one of the most hidden and populated vampire hideaways and had done _nothing._  

Even among the company of the ancient Jager, the most fearless of gamblers and Fala, his prized and sadistic fledgling, Alexander had done nothing. Too concerned was he for his twin sister Rachel, one who had been damned three centuries before and whom Alexander had been following for days. 

Merely the thought of his sister's name brought a twinge of bitter pain to Alexander's chest. He had been shadowing her on and off for days hoping to find some trace of her humanity to cling to. Instead he had found a monster. One willing to kill and maim and who bartered in blood as though it were money. 

He should have expected it. His fellow Tristes had continuously tried to drive the fact into his mind, that his dear sister was three hundred years dead and would not be returning. Only now did he begin to accept it.  

Alexander's infraction might have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the fellow witch and hunter Dominique Vida's finding of New Mayhem some time later. He had then been called before the Triste elders in a trial, having been charged with withholding information and harboring the undead, two of the most serious of charges. 

Yet by some fateful intervention or perhaps through the limited compassion that separated the Triste leaders from Dominique Vida, Alexander had been spared. His magic had not been bound, an act that would have left him little more than prey, but he had been forced to remain at the Café Sangra to kill those who were weak and foolish enough to drink from him and protect those unfortunate to come across the dark residence.  

Whispers and murmurs soon drew his attention, causing Alexander to turn slightly to their source. Scant feet from him, two male vampires, one lanky and possessing shoulder length ebony hair and the other shorter with his black hair closely cropped, both were wearing black and conspired together suspiciously. 

"I heard the Vida woman has gone so far as to put a contract out on her." The tall vampire muttered coolly. 

His shorter companion stared at him disbelievingly. "Dominique Vida paying Bruja mercenaries to kill her daughter? For a woman with such a ruthless reputation, I would think she would want to do the deed herself." 

Alexander watched the tall one smirk, then dismissed him quickly. Obviously he was  young and had not mastered control over his emotions. That thought aside, the young Triste continued to listen closely to the conversation at hand. 

"Perhaps." The smirk became an all-out grin. "Perhaps not. It _is_ her daughter we're talking about." 

His response only reaffirmed Alexander's suspicion. Only one who was newly made could be so unknowledgeable of Dominique Vida's brutal nature and methods, those that made her second only the assassin Tizoc Theron and as cruel and vicious as any vampire.

Turning away from the useless prattle, Alexander tried to clear his head. He had known about Dominique Vida's younger daughter being turned for weeks, the news had come as a victory to the undead, for it succeeded in casting a lasting shame upon the Vida line. 

While he didn't agree with Sarah Vida's choice, Alexander couldn't help but pity the vampire. Her mother was someone even he, as an immortal, avoided. And to have her possibly hunting her own daughter…the thought was disturbing.  

But he didn't have long to dwell upon it. Swiftly and unseen, the atmosphere of the Café Sangra changed. Alexander's own senses sharpened and he raised his guard accordingly. Hungry eyes turned to the doorway, all filled with a primitive bloodlust. 

The door creaked open, sending the chill wind of the city throughout the room and revealing the greatly anticipated visitor. Alexander, like all those present, immediately sought the man-no actually, boy's-mind with his power. What he found both saddened and irritated him. 

This boy Robert fancied himself a hunter. 

Obviously aware of the attention he was drawing by remaining near the entrance, Robert quickly moved. His tense movements immediately gave away, not only his concealed weapon, but the inkling of fear, the miniscule amount needed to draw all of the vampires in the room to him like moths to a flame. 

Alexander watched him closely as Robert sat down on one of the leather-topped stools and tried to look ordinary. His sandy brown hair, sharp eyes and even black ensemble had him pegged for human less than a second after he walked in. 

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." Alexander commented softly when Robert reached for an unwatched drink beside him. "Lest suicide is the path you are choosing." 

Robert blinked at Alexander in shock, then at the liquid in the glass in his hand. "Thanks." He muttered, sounding disgruntled. He then placed the glass down on the bar and sighed. 

Alexander gazed at the teen intently and gave the thinnest of smiles. "You've come a long way."  

The glare he received in response was hardly unexpected. "So what if I did?" Robert responded coldly. "What's it to you?" 

Though he continued to smile at Robert coolly, Alexander easily plucked the reasons for his aggression from his mind. The thought was bitter, giving Alexander the idea of bloody thorns or jagged glass.   

The image of a young woman seemed to constantly shift between a healthy, smiling girl and a garish wraith, the name "Nikolas" brutally carved into one of her pallid arms. Faces and names mingled interchangeably, but it was the name "Kaleo" which seemed to blaze with the force of Robert's hatred.   

Alexander released the young human's mind with a feeling of great distress. He turned his head and caught the eye of the vampire Bryn. The red haired firebrand gave him a taunting smirk, the evil glint in her eyes indicating she had shared Alexander's examination of Robert's mind and enjoyed the fierce pain that lurked within it. 

Alexander struck her with his power suddenly, sending the younger vampire sprawling backwards. Seconds later, she stood, her eyes narrowed and lips pulled back in a feral snarl. Alexander raised an eyebrow questioningly, waiting to see if the vampire was foolish enough to try and attack him. Hesitating slightly, Bryn hissed a particularly vicious curse before vanishing altogether. 

Turning back to Robert, Alexander found the teenager staring at him with a mixture of disgust and fear. 

"You've attracted quite an amount of attention, my friend. And none of it is good." He spoke seriously. 

"I knew that the minute I walked in here." 

"Yes and you did so with little regard to either your safety or your soul. A risky venture."

Robert's tone was sharp. "I know what I'm doing."

Alexander frowned and lowered his gaze to his own drink. "Do you really? For one who considers himself a hunter, you have no kills of which to speak of. You came here in search of vengeance, yet the one you're seeking has never entered this location. The blade you carry was visible from the moment you arrived and your mind is open to Triste and vampire alike. But you know what you are doing." 

A dark scowl crossed the would-be hunter's face and he glared at Alexander coldly. "Anything else you want to tell me? With that vampire power of yours, you have to know why I did this." 

"I do." Alexander replied matter-of-factly. "And I am not vampire. We Tristes may have similarities to them, but they are only superficial I assure you." 

"Really." Robert replied disbelievingly. "And what do mean 'has never entered this location?' I got information on this place from a vampire who wants to kill this guy almost as much as I do." 

"He lied. A common feat among vampires and hardly surprising. Given the nature of your enemy and the fate of your sister, perhaps he believed he was aiding you." The last sentence held the air of sarcasm. 

"Aiding me? The fate of my sister? What the hell are you talking about?" 

Alexander sighed lightly. No one had bothered to tell him to truth surrounding his sister's current situation, of Kaleo's blood bonding her to himself and the prospective immortality that went along with it. Such information would be difficult to bear, especially for someone who loved his sister so deeply. 

Alexander could sympathize with the teenager's pain. The loss of someone who meant so much to them was something the would-be hunter and immortal witch shared. 

"You're sister is no longer mortal." Alexander began simply. "Kaleo has taken her blood and given her a small amount of his own. Not enough to change her, but enough to create a blood bond between them that can only be broken by his death. Christine is all but immortal, in the moment of Kaleo's passing, she will join him in death." 

For a moment, silence reigned. Alexander didn't need to be a Triste to tell that Robert was horrified. The rush of his thoughts, the fierce pounding of his heart…all desirable traits of defenseless prey. 

"That bastard." He muttered over and over, his body beginning to tremble with the force of his rage. "He knew…this whole time, he knew."   
"And that is why he may have sent you here," Alexander responded darkly. "Though the methods of Nikolas are both sadistic and cruel, yet he carries a ferocious protection for his brother. His reasons for sending you here may have been rooted in protecting your sister as well. If you became a vampire, she would not have to look upon you as she would your parents and those she cares for, withered and old at the end of their lives, while she remained in semblance of her youth." 

Robert gazed at the Triste, his face ashen and eyes wide. "He bought Christine back just so that she would start dying all over again?" 

"He did so to save her, at least those are what your memories told me." Alexander took a sip of his drink before sighing. "And though your loss is great, it is hardly isolated. Allow me to tell you of my sister Rachel…" 

~The End~ 


End file.
